Eliza Graham Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Rachel Pearse Books

Eliza Graham is an award-winning historical and literary fiction author from the United Kingdom.

Her works made the long list for the United Kingdom’s Richard and Judy Summer Book Club and also made the shortlist for the Hidden Gem World Book Day’s competition.
Graham also received a nomination for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.

She has said that she has always been an author fascinated by the world of the 1940s and the 1930s and particularly World War II, its aftermath, and how they impacted future generations.

Consequently, the author visited cemeteries in the Polish city of Szczecin, radio studios that operated in Berkshire during the war, decoy harbors in Cornwall, and bunkers in Brittany.

Her historical and literary fiction writing came from her keen interest in history which she studied at A levels. In fact, she agonized a lot between majoring in English and History while she was in university but ultimately went with the former.
She has variously said that she finds writing about historical things set in wartime since there are so many challenges she can throw at the characters.

Given her background, it was inevitable that Eliza Graham would grow up and become an author. While she was in school she used to spend a lot of her biology lessons reading Jean Plaidy under her textbooks at the back of the class.
During the history and English lessons, she used to sit at the very front hanging on to every word. At home, she loved reading books and used to have a book even while cleaning her teeth and getting dressed.

When schools were closed, she used to spend much of her holidays at the public library. After graduating from high school, she went to Oxford University, where she majored in English Literature but never learned much about novel writing.
Still, her time at Oxford expanded her knowledge of how to communicate and use literary canon. Some of the authors she loved to read and still reads include Sarah Gainham, Elizabeth Jane Howard, and Alan Furst.

In addition to the novels from the 1940s, she also loves novels from the Victorian era and has read and reread the works of the likes of Trollope, Wilkie Collins, and Dickens.

After graduating, she worked a range of jobs including as an entrance hall cleaner, a Marks & Spencer Saturday girl a trainee banker and a business writer, and a PR consultant covering subjects from jumbo factory loo rolls and long tail insurance risks.

The inspiration for Eliza Graham’s debut novel “Playing with the Moon” came when she visited a coastal village alongside her family.

It had been evacuated during the Second World War so that it would be a base for soldiers practicing for the D-DAY landings and had been closed to the public ever since.

Wandering around the abandoned school and derelict cottages, she found the atmosphere haunting and poignant.

But it was not until seven years later that she read an article in the newspaper that told of Black GIs from the US who had been involved in the D-DAY landings. With these two strands, she finally started writing and published her debut in 2007.
She currently makes her home in Oxfordshire, an ancient countryside village where she lives with her family. When she is not writing her novels, she loves to read, travel the world researching her novels, and working the lowlands around her home.

Eliza Graham’s novel “The Lines We Leave Behind” is a work set in 1947 England.

It is here that a woman is placed under close observation living in an insane asylum. She has been charged with a violent crime but she does not remember ever committing it.

It seems that she has very serious amnesia and she recalls very little from her recent past. However, she still remembers how things were during the war in Yugoslavia where she worked with her lover risking their lives while resisting the Germans.
What she remembers is that she lost many brave comrades but after that, she does not remember anything.

Struggling to remember important pieces in her life, she has to confront the horrific experiences of her peacetime marriage and special operations work.
It is only by doing so that she may regain the critical memories and lead her to the truth on whether she had been betrayed or was a violent criminal.
It is a descriptive and entrancing work that combines family affection, romance, suspense, war, and violence.

“The One I Was” by Eliza Graham is an interesting work of fiction that tells the story of a troubled and restless Rosamond Hunter.

She is a woman that spent much of her life filled with guilt about her mother’s death which has caused her much anxiety.

Ultimately, she is sent back to her childhood home of Fairfleet to take care of an aging refugee. It is here that she confronts ghosts that have haunted her for years.
Benny Gault her patient had arrived in England in 1939 after feeling Nazi Germany aboard a kinder transport train.

With his health worsening, they begin getting closer to each other and they share the love they both had for Harriet who is Rosamond’s grandmother.
However as they begin to trust in each other more, history is turned on its head and guilty secrets are exposed.

It is a realistic and very interesting work that provides insights into life in 1939 Nazi Germany. In addition, it also provides some insightful depictions of life in England during and after the Second World War.

Eliza Graham’s novel “Another Day Gone,” tells the story of two sisters that have to make peace with each other and the past.

Following the London bombings in 2005, Sara heads back to Oxfordshire which is her childhood home to find Polly her sister back home after being gone for more than a decade. Why did she decide to come at this time and where was she all this time?
They are very different from each other and while growing up only Polly who seemed perfect was the only one that could meet the standards of Bridie their exacting nanny. But then Sara had her heart broken when Polly ran away and left her behind.
For Bridie, learning that Polly is back is a threat as she could revive a family secret she had been hiding all these years. She loves both girls deeply and did her best to bring them up the best way she could.

Nonetheless, her past had always been off limits to herself as well as to them. Polly’s return may set in motion events that may change all their lives as they will all be forced to deal with the weight of their hidden history.
Set across several generations, it is a work that provides insights into the long-lasting consequences of violence and the restorative powers of loyalty and love.